


Christmas Fairy Tale in New York

by odamaebrown



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8940715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odamaebrown/pseuds/odamaebrown
Summary: Set up after Hungry; Mulder and Scully go to New York to investigate an odd case, that it can be telekinesis. Once there, they met a mysterious woman that can change past, present and future.Could Mulder live an alternative live?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Blinded by the white light" by Dashakay.

21st December 1999.

-"I cant believe that you want to go to New York, Mulder".

Scully was standing, looking at Mulder and her arms on her waist:

"I have to go to San Diego in two days to spend Christmas with my family and I dont have my gifts bought or the suitcases done. I havent had time with the Pankow case."

Mulder looked at her smiling: it was funny to see Scully angry. And she was right: they had to explain many things to the Bureau about Donald Pankow and those genetic mutations that made him do not have ears, have a long tongue and need to eat human flesh.

Scully had spent almost a week analyzing the body after obtaining the necessary permits and Mulder kept thinking about the guilty feeling of the boy that made him jump to him to end his suffering.

And now, a new case called his attention: a series of outrages in which nobody was injured but the security cameras of several establishments had captured the car that had carried out and.... there was nobody behind the wheel.

"Scully, this is a real x-file: a car with no driver that runs over people, one person a night, but it doesnt do anything to them, do you understand, Scully?N-o-t-h-i-n-g."

"Nothing is what I have prepared for Christmas, Mulder." Scully said irritated.

"Look, we can go there, there are only a couple of hours driving, well see what's going on, we'll come back and pack your bags, you can buy the gifts at the airport.  
Scully raised an eyebrow.

\- "I think it's a case of telekinesis and nothing more and nothing less than with a car. Someone can move a car with his mind!"

"I'll tell you my theory, Mulder," Scully said, pointing Mulder's finger "remote control." And that means that it is a case for Cops, not for us". 

Mulder got up from his desk and took the reports and his coat:

"Are you coming?" And walked out. Scully looked at the ceiling and sighed wearily. She grabbed her coat and followed Mulder, saying:

-"We'll be back tomorrow night."

-"Have I ever failed to you, Scully?. He said, smiling. 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully loved New York and much more at Christmas: the huge skyscrapers, the white and red lights, the faces of joy and tranquility of the New Yorkers when the afternoon arrived and wander the cold streets well sheltered, enjoying the Christmas decoration and the Christmas Carol that were heard in every corner.

She loved the sea and loved California, but New York was like another world. 

At the police station they were given all the reports they had and they went to see the first victim: Matthew Kilvington, a man in his sixties with those red colors on the cheek that some people have by born and others for being great drinkers. Mr. Kilvington seemed to be second rate.

After introducing themselves, the questions began and Scully said: 

"Could you see who was driving the car that attacked you, Mr. Kilvington?"

"I was attacked by the Christmas Fairy. And I know what youre going to say, young lady: that I'm a drunk who was drunk that night '' - he said in his hoarse voice '' and I was, but I know what I saw: I was attacked by the Christmas Fairy ' '.

"Can you describe her, Mr. Kilvington?" '' Mulder said excitedly and Scully stared at the ceiling of the room sighing.

\- '' Of course I can, who do you think I am?. And I can give you a picture of her, if you want. ''

The man got up and brought a picture that looked like a little boy's. In it was a woman with very long blonde hair, dressed in a short pink skirt and a T-shirt of the same color. It also had white butterfly wings.

"And I'll tell you something else, Agent Mulder, cause you're an intelligent man who knows how to listen to people," said Mr. Kilvington looking at Scully sideways, "I'll tell you where to find her." Mulder smiled like a kid with a new bicycle.

\- '' Do you know where to find it? '' He asked in astonishment.

The man nodded, proud of himself:  
'' My grandson saw her this morning and made this drawing for me. It is in the Fourth, in bar called '' Gretel ''.  
Scully could not believe what she was hearing, tiredly asked:

\- '' Have you checked it? ''.

Mr. Kilvington looked at her in astonishment.

-''Are you crazy? Do you want that fairy to finish what she started?, to hurt me again? ''.

"Thank you for your help, sir." Mulder said and they both left. Scully saw as Mulder drove to Fourth Avenue and sighed: I could not believe it.

They found out the bar named '' Gretel '' and walked in it. It did not look like a good place: there were drunks everywhere singing, too much smoke and it seemed not to have been cleaned for years. Scully saw as a cockroach ran straight ahead to her shoes but Mulder quickly kill it with his left feet. 

\- '' And this is where we are going to find the Christmas Fairy. '' Scully said sarcastically. They approached the bar, took out their badges and Mulder showed the picture that Mr. Kilvington had given him to the waiter:

\- '' Have you seen this woman? '' Mulder asked professionally. The waiter looked at the picture carefully, narrowing his eyes and Scully bit her lip to keep from laughing: this was crazy.

"That's Bertha The Fat," the waiter said. "'Do you know where we can find her?'" Mulder asked again.

\- '' Sure, it's back there, '' he said, pointing to some reserved. Mulder and Scully walked there and met a woman like the one in the picture: blonde with long hair, dressed in a pink and short dress and wearing white wings.

But the picture represented a leggy and beautiful fairy: Bertha The Fat was honoring her name and, moreover, seemed to take as long without washing as the bar in which she was.

"Bertha?" She looked at him in surprise. "I'm Agent Mulder and she's my partner, Agent Scully. Can we sit down and ask you a few questions, please?" "Bertha said dryly: Sure you can, America is a free country "and Mulder and Scully smelled the unpleasant smell of alcohol that came from her mouth. They sat down and she spoke:

\- '' I know why you are here and I will save your time: yes, I have run over all those people. One per night, but I've never killed anyone. ''

Mulder and Scully were surprised to hear her say that.

\- '' How do you explain that you did not appear inside the car when the CCTV recorded it? ''. Mulder asked. "Well, because I became invisible" She said quietly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Did not Mr. Kilvington tell you that I was the Christmas fairy?" She asked annoyed.

"No one can become invisible," Scully said. "Dana, Its always surprise me that, with all that you've seen working on the X-Files, you say that" Bertha said.  
Mulder and Scully were more surprised than at first.

"'Bertha,'" Mulder started, "would you mind if we go to talk to a quieter place? ''. Bertha nodded and asked him: 

\- "Do you want to go to my house? ''. Scully told her that that sounded like a good idea, and suddenly, they appeared seated at the kitchen table in what seemed to be Bertha's house. Mulder and Scully were astonished: they could not even talk.

\- '' I told you I'm the Christmas Fairy. '' Scully got up and started to touch the walls, thinking it had to be a goddamn magic trick. Mulder looked at Bertha embarrassed. 

-"Scully is a bit ... skeptical." Bertha waved her hand taking away importance. Scully returned with them and sat down: she had no words. She thought she was about to wake up in his bed in Georgetown.

\- '' Will you tell us what happened? Why did you run over those people? ''. Mulder asked. Bertha took out a bottle of whiskey and drank a long, nervous sip.

"It all started last year. The tradition is that every year, at Christmas, I grant a wish to a child. Last year, I gave a wish to a boy named Steve. The boy had seen '' Aladdin '' at school and decided that his desire would be to free me from being a Fairy. Do you understand it? I am a fairy, for God's sake, how could I want to be anything else? I do not deny the child's generosity, but, look what he has done to me '' She said, pointing to the bulges that came out from underneath the tight dress.

"And that's not all. The child asked me to become "a normal person" but it turns out that the child has a rather peculiar view of normalcy: his grandfather is an alcoholic and has been in jail for driving drunk three times. So, basically, I've become an alcoholic who has to run over people. Nothing happens to them, but imagine how I feel, going out every night hunting. '' Bertha said, tired.

"But youre still retaining your powers ..." Mulder said. 

"Yes, but I cannot grant wishes, so I am not the Fairy that I was. You understand? I cannot return to myself until I can give another wish to a child. ''

\- '' And what do you need to do that? ''.

"I need someone who believes in me to decide to be a Fairy and give a wish to a child." "I believe in you!" Mulder said enthusiastically. "I will!" Bertha shook her head: No.

"I know that there is equality between men and women now, but when I was born 1000 years ago, that was not the case. A Fairy is a Fairy. A woman, a female being if you prefer to say so. And ... where am I going to find a woman who believes in me enough to let her turn her into a Fairy and give a wish to a child? ''.

They both looked at Scully.

Scully frozen and said:

"I do not believe in fairies, and even if I did, I would not let anyone make me one." Mulder asked Bertha to leave them alone, and when they were, he looked at Scully with his usual puppy-eyes: Scully knew she was lost.

"Scully, it's an amazing opportunity! You can experience what you dreamt to be when you were a little girl for an hour so! Do not you think it's incredible?".  
Scully shook her head. "I didnt want to be a fairy when I was little, Mulder. I wanted to be a veterinarian or a sailor. ''

Mulder put his hand to his head.

\- '' Scully, how can you be so ... stubborn? You are being offered a unique opportunity and you unravel it. Scully, even if you do not believe her, I know you believe in me and I'm asking you to consider it ... you can make a child's wish come true and give us back the Christmas Fairy. ''

Scully frowned, thinking. After a few seconds, she called Bertha, who appeared again at the table with her bottle of Scottish in her hand.

"Bertha, I'd like to ask you a question. Just as you brought us here, can you travel to any time?.

Bertha nodded. "I can do whatever I want, except grant a wish to a child. The moment someone does it for me, I will be a fairy again. ''

"It's okay, I will do it" Scully said, getting up from the table in front of Mulder's stunned stare. 

"Turn me into a Fairy."

Mulder saw the black jacket and Scully's blue shirt turn into a miniskirt with two pink ruffles and a small top of the same color; as her red hair grew until it reached almost below the knees and grew two white wings. Her skin was covered in glitter and her ears were pointed. Mulder was amazingly surprised. She was beautiful and ... Scully was a fairy!

"Now," Scully said. "I need us to travel to Mulder's first Christmas without Samantha." Mulder froze. Scully wanted to give him the only desire he had in her childhood since she was twelve: that Samantha would return.

Bertha told her that she had never given a wish to a child in the past and she werent sure if that would affect the future, but Scully was determined and Mulder was exultant: having Samantha back was the best of gifts. And she was going to give it to her, Scully.  
If I already loved her, imagine after this ...

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

December 24, 1973. Samantha Mulder has been missing since November 27th...

Scully was suddenly in a small room full of comics on the floor, posters of baseball players and a blue blanket on the bed where a young Mulder, twelve, looked at her in surprise.

"Hello, Mulder." Mulder opened his mouth but did not get the words "I'm the Christmas Fairy ... This year ... I came to give you a wish, what you most want."  
But the young Mulder could not speak, glaring at her, as if he were about to shout. 

'' You definitely cannot say you're a talkative boy, Mulder'' Scully thought. 

And Scully waited a long time but Mulder did not say anything, looking at her as if her eyes were out of their sockets. In the end he asked:

\- '' Are you real? ''. Scully nodded.

"I'm here to grant your greatest wish. Do you want your sister Samantha to return safely? ''.

Mulder's eyes filled with tears and he said, "Yes, I want my sister Samantha to come back." Scully moved her wings, filling the glittering room, and put a finger on the young Mulder's forehead while she said "Granted."

That Christmas, Mulder woke up to hear his parents crying and shouting for joy: Samantha was back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fox W. Mulder grew up as a normal child, in a quiet, cozy home. His parents never got divorced and they just lived for their children. Mulder and his parents gave to Samantha all their attention and affection for all the time that they had missed her and Mulder felt that he had grown up in the best family in the world. 

That made him a self-confident man which, combined with his intelligence and charm, made him a great seducer.

He studied in Harvard, Massachusetts, because he never though in to go to somewhere so far as England: he loved his family and wished to be close of them.

When he ended his degree, in 1986, he was recruited by the FBI and his intelligence and intuition made him soon became the Golden Boy at the Bullpen. Handsome and intelligent, he got a different woman every single night.

That same year, he met the young psychology student Diana Fowley. Her mother would not stop telling him that he would sit up and give her a grandchildren and he, after two years of relationship with her, decided that maybe it was time to married her. 

They were married in 1992, when she had been working for the FBI for almost a year. 

Soon, she found the X-Files in a basement office. Diana Mulder-Fowley, who was interested in the paranormal phenomena, asked him to study some of the cases she had found out, but Agent Mulder refused it, saying that he was very busy: he was a successful man, a great agent, had a young, beautiful and intelligent woman and a wonderful family with a sister who adored him; and everybody said that he would soon take Agent Patterson's place. What more could he ask for?

Diana Mulder commented about the X-Files to a young scientist from Quantico, Agent Pendrell, who had lost his brother when they were both small and Pendrell always claimed that his brother was abducted by aliens. Because he was interested in the paranormal and he was a scientist, everybody started to name him, as nickname, "Frankenstein". In late 1991, he left the lab to open his own section within the FBI: the X-Files.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Katherine Scully studied forensic medicine and was recruited by the FBI in 1990.

She did not consider herself a particularly attractive woman, although she was relatively successful among her classmates and, above all, among the teachers. She had a relationship with Jack Willis, her instructor at Quantico; And with his mentor Daniel Waterston.

She decided that she wanted to be a field agent and on March 7, 1992 she was assigned to Agent Pendrell s section: the X-Files.

Dana Scully was happy about the challenges her job posed and because her new partner treated her as someone very special. She suspected that he secretly loved her but she could not see him as anything but a brother, which made her quickly to be her most serious allied. 

She was abducted by Duane Barry, kidnapped by Donnie Pfaster, and her sister was killed. In 1996, after all these facts, the agent Pendrell decides to close its division, the X Files, but he did not because Scully said to him:

\- "If we quit, they win."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

December 16, 1999. New reality.

Mulder was driving the car with Diana, his wife, sitting next to him. She looked tired as she had had a miscarriage a couple of weeks ago, the third in four years. Mulder blamed it on her stressful job.

Diana had started working under a man named Spender in 1992 and she and her partner, Alex Krycek, spent their lives traveling. Her trips to Turkey were frequent and, within the country, she traveled almost every week. 

Diana spoke little about her work, to say nothing. Mulder had thought of those long reports with women's names and serial numbers on the side, but Diana told him they were follow-ups on women who had been kidnapped and Mulder believed her. 

Why should he doubt his wife?. 

On the other hand, Mulder was having problems. Maybe it was to spend so much time alone, without Diana, but it had been a few years when he dreamt with a small, red-haired woman who could not name or face. She would hug him, talk to him, take his hand or say words of encouragement. But lately, for a year or so, he had dreamed that they were making love and that she was groaning in his ear. 

Mulder woke up full of passion and love and could not understand what the hell those dreams meant. He did not even know that woman. 

He looked at Diana and thought that she was always there when he needed her: she was a good wife. But the red-haired woman, without even knowing her, made him feel happy and in love as a teenager.

Diana read the program scheduled for the weekend. 

They were headed to a science convention in New York where Mulder was going to present his book "When Rationality Fails, An Alternative Model to Explain Human Behavior." 

He would expose at six in the afternoon his thesis, which was the most awaited moment by all. In spite of his personal and marital crisis, his professional life had not resented.

"Yet" he used to think.

Diana laughed and Mulder looked at her in confusion.

-"What is so funny? ".

"Frankenstein and his girlfriend are attending the convention!" Mulder smiled. He hadn't met them personally, but they were the two Nerds who worked in the paranormal phenomena section. 

He had heard of them, two scientists who might have been respected as he was, but they were taken for crazy now. A pity.

"And you're not going to believe it!" Diana continued "Frankenstein's girlfriend is going to give a lecture!".

Mulder looked at her in astonishment.

-" About what? ". He could not imagine that that woman could speak at a scientific congress. 

-" Her lecture is called" Mutant Assassins: Animality and Socialization. "

Mulder and Diana looked at each other for a few seconds and could not help but laugh.

"Is she going to talk about the X-Men? For God's sake ... The world has gone crazy ... And you wanted me to take a look at those X-Files when you first found them out." Mulder said, amused. 

\- "Agent Scully was a great professional when she started and now she's going to talk about mutants... yes, thank God you did not waste your time with those files."  
Mulder suddenly felt a great rush as if catching his throat.

"What did you say? The name of Frankenstein's girlfriend?". 

"Scully, Dana Scully, Why?" Diana asked curiously.

Mulder did not answer, but he felt a sharp pang in his heart at that name.

What was wrong with him, for God's sake?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To be continued in Part II


	2. Chapter 2

Agent Mulder held a brilliant lecture, theorizing about the concepts that we can use to encompass all humans. He, who had been working in violent crimes for many years and, consequently, had seen the most horrible part of the human behavior, considered that concepts such as "rationality" or "dignity" were short:

\- "Can we speak of" rationality "when a" human being " keeps his daughter locked up in a basement for more than ten years to use her as a sex slave? Yes, he is a rational being; and what about human dignity? ... We intuitively know that this man is a human being. Where and when does "humanity" lose and a human become a monster? ... Freudian theory explains it by dividing the mind into ... “

In the last row, The Lone Gunmen and Scully listened interested to Agent Mulder:

-"He is good, isn't he, Scully?" Frohike asked, sitting next to her. On the other side were Byers and Langley. 

Scully's partner, Pendrell, had not been able to assist because he was ill with the flu, and despite how much he complained and promised to go, the fever was stronger than his desires.

-Yes, he is ..." Scully said, admiring "everyone was waiting for his lecture. He is one of the best criminal psychologists in the United States. "

-"You'll be better, Scully." Frohike said. Scully nodded. 

The Lone Gunmen had promised her that they would go, although they would not stay until the next day, when she wanted to attend a seminar on forensic pathology. 

Her lecture was scheduled at 8.30pm and would be about mutants. She knew that they had put it the last of the day because hardly anyone stayed until the end, tired after a whole day of talks and seminars. Obviously, who wants to hear about mutants?

But Scully wanted to show to the world the little truths that she and Pendrell were investigating.

During Mulder's lecture, Scully thought about the brilliant man who was speaking. He was so familiar to her, with that deep voice and those ironic observations between bright phrases. Why was that man so familiar to her?. 

She could swear she'd never seen him in the FBI corridors but she had listened about him, Spooky because of his brilliant mind. 

Agent Mulder moved confidently on the stage, exposing his thesis with passion and intelligence, and she could swear that his gestures and words were familiar to her, his way of defending his theories when one of the presenters asked him an uncomfortable question.

It was so refreshing to see that man that she almost forgot what he was saying:

-"Relax, Dana."

When it was over, everyone applauded Mulder's lecture and left for a half-hour break. Then it would be Scully's turn.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Fox, you've been amazing!" Diana told him when the conference ended, giving her a deep kiss to show him how proud she was of him. Then she looked at him sadly: 

-'' I have to go: Agent Krycek called me, we have an emergency in Louisiana. '' Mulder looked at her in disappointment. His wife was always travelling.

-"You said you'd spend the weekend here."

She smiled seductively: "'It will reward you when I return, I promise". 

Mulder was tired and he let her know:  
-'' How are we gonna have a baby with such a busy life, Di? ... Always riding a plane and traveling everywhere ...".

Diana said very serious:

-"My job is important to me, Fox." 

And at that point, Mulder thought he would say, "I thought I was the most important to you," and she would say, "And you are, Fox, but I wouldnt do this job unless I knew I was doing something important. Do not make me choose, please '' and he would get angry and they would not talk to each other for several days, then they would forgive each other and the cycle would start a few months later.

He decided to let it pass this time: he had enough in his head.

-"Do you think you can be back for Christmas?" He asked despaired. Diana took her hands and kissed his lips again, saying:

-I'll do everything I can," but they both knew it was not her decision, and probably he would not see her for at least ten days.

"And what about you? Are you coming back to Washington?" Mulder thought of his empty apartment and decided that he would stay the weekend in New York. 

-"I'll stay here. I'm going to see Frankenstein's girlfriend's conference he said tiredly.

-''Really? '' Diana said surprised. "I've seen her with those three nerdy friends she has, those who think someone reads their newspaper." 

Mulder looked at her quizzically. 

-"You seem to know her very well." 

Diana felt a pang of guilt. She remembered the three months that Scully was missing and they left her sterile. There was still some frozen fetus around. But she worked hard for the salvation of Mulder and herself, would not any other woman have done that? 

C. G. B. Spender would be his Savior when colonization began, and Diana wished to secure a place with the survivors. So she put together quickly and smiled at Mulder.

-"You cannot imagine the gossip you can learn in the restroom, Fox."

They said good-bye and Mulder went to have tea with cookies that was offered during the break. And everyone gave him the congratulations for his intervention.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Scully's turn came, the conference room was half full. Mulder sat in the back row and put on his glasses. Listening bullshit about mutants would do him some good to forget what was going on in his life. His eyes widened when he saw her:

A small woman with red hair underneath her mouth, wearing a black jacket suit that made her look bigger than she actually would be. He looked up to the podium and he was sure he knew her, a strange feeling of having lived what he was living.

\- "Good night everyone, my name is Dana Scully and tonight I'm going to talk about mutant killers and how they move between pure animality, understood as the primary instinct where necessity is the engine of their existence; And socialization, when the mutant has grown up in a society with values and traditions that collide against their animal instincts ... ". 

Where did he see her before? Where did he see her before? He knew her, there was no doubt. Who was? It was so close to him ... '' Think, think, think, '' he said to himself, trying to find an answer. His face came to his mind saying:

-"I would not risk my career for anyone but you." He shook his head. It was...? It could not be true. Was...?  
Scully went on:

\- '' But first, we have to talk about a definition: what is a mutant? "And finally, Mulder remembered that dream he had had when he was little and said aloud, excited:

\- '' The Christmas Fairy! ''. And they all listened to him.

Scully was puzzled, and the four FBI idiots who were there to mock her speech believed that Mulder had said that in response to Scully's question: what is a mutant? So they could not help a laugh. 

Mulder felt very guilty: he did not want to make fun of her, but somehow he knew he was there to listen to nonsense. Scully spoke quietly and self-assuredly:

\- '' I thank you for your contribution, sir, but, unfortunately, having no scientific evidence to support the existence of the Christmas Fairy, tonight we are going to talk about mutants that have been verified as mutants. They have been proven such as after having been analyzed in a laboratory ". 

A slide appeared on the screen, a short-haired man with yellow eyes:

-"This is Eugene Tooms ...". 

Mulder had sunk into the chair, embarrassed and at the same time excited. She was exactly the same woman he'd dreamed when he was twelve. 

But even more: her hair color and voice were so much like the woman he had been dreaming about all these years that he could barely think.

-"Relax, Mulder," he said to himself, sighing.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Scully's lecture was over, Mulder stood up satisfied: that woman had provided solid scientific evidence for every sentence she had said, her theories were original, thoughtful and well grounded.

If that was what was done in the basement of the FBI, he was happy to pay his taxes. When she left, he lurked around the room expecting to see Agent Scully for to give her an apologize but found her surrounded by a small group of agents and a short man with glasses looked defiant to him, so he decided to let it pass and went out.

He bought a latte at a street shop and called his sister:

\- "Hello Sam, face of pan". He said when Samantha picked up the phone.

-"Hello brother that always will be older than his sister" said Samantha, amused. 

"What about New York? Have you bought me a magnet of the Statue of Liberty for my fridge?"

\- "In my way to find it".

-"Your way? Where is my sister-in-law?" Samantha asked not surprised: everyone knew that Diana travelled a lot.

-"She left a couple of hours ago, Louisiana this time."

Samantha did not know what to say. She was a little tired of her brother being alone and knew how much he wanted to be a father.

-"You know what, Fox?" She said cheerfully "when you get to Washington, call me and I'll come and see you. We'll eat pancakes with maple syrup and cinnamon biscuits, and I'll paint your toes with red Christmassy."

-"What a pity, Sam! I thought you would paint my fingernails ..." Samantha laughed and Mulder laughed with her.

\- "How are you doing with your dreams?". Samantha asked. Mulder did not want to tell Diana that because, although he could not control what he dreamed, he felt guilty in some way, as if he were cheating on her, making love with that red-haired woman in his dreams. 

But he needed to talk to someone about it and he did it with his sister, who else?

-"That's why I called you, I've seen a woman exactly the same that the woman that appear in my dreams". 

-" Fox, "Samantha said seriously " you're a good psychologist, much better than I am, and you know perfectly well what I'm going to tell you".

-"Rationalize" Mulder said before her.

-"That's my brother!" Samantha said, smiling. They talked for a while longer until Mulder hung up. 

The city seemed full of life at that time, almost 10 pm, so he decided to walk around New York and " to rationalize."

He thought of his marriage, whether it was finished after all; he thought about the dreams he had with that mysterious red-haired woman and the extraordinary resemblance she had with Agent Scully. 

He tried to rationalize all that, as a psychologist, he thought he had a marriage crisis and clung to a pleasant dream - the Christmas Fairy that had given back to his sister - to escape his problems.

But that did not make him feel better. Mulder wanted a son or, rather, a girl, and wanted name her '' Emily '' even if he did not know why.

He was lost in his thoughts until he stopped at a crowded traffic light, waiting for it turned green. Without thinking, he started to walk when he noticed someone grabbing him tightly from the neck of his thick coat and a car passed quickly 3 inches from him: if that person had not stop him, the car would have hit him.

He sighed, his heart beating like crazy. He heard a female voice saying:

-"I hope you dont believe that the Christmas Fairy is your guardian angel." And he felt the collar of his coat loosen, freeing him. He turned and saw Agent Scully in front of him with a white woolen cap beneath which red strands of hair escaped:

-"You should be more careful She said, and started walking, crossing the road.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mulder watched her walk away, wearing a thick black coat, blue jeans, and black ankles boots. She wore a white scarf and cap. He ran after her until he reached her:

-"I'm usually careful when I cross, Agent Scully," he said when he was next to her. 

She looked at him a little annoyed: he had laughed of her in her lecture, she had just saved him from at least a good blow and now he came to bother her.

-"I wanted to thank you for ... stopping me at the traffic lights." He ran his hands through his hair nervously, "And ... I wanted to ... apologize for my unfortunate comment during your lecture. You were brilliant. ''

-"Thank you" Scully said.

She liked that man. It seemed as if he had lost the gift of the word he had so masterfully demonstrated to use during his lecture. They were silent for a few seconds until Mulder said nervously:

\- '' Do you fancy a coffee? ''. Mulder heard his own nervous voice and was surprised: he had been with many, many women and Agent Scully made him nervous. Scully gave him a half smile and she said, "I'd love that."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They walked in to a coffee shop in Fourth Avenue,''Gretel'', which was charming: with pretty Christmas lights, families and groups of young people chatting and eating waffles and drinking smoothies and coffee.

Scully ordered peach tea and fruit salad and Mulder carrot cake and another latte.

Mulder took off his coat and Scully recognized that scent: Mulder's scent made her feel safe and comfortable, like ... Like ... the way she felt in her dreams, when she dreamed with that mysterious man who was always beside her, showing her his love:

-"Scully, we should get married: we are soul mates" suddenly came to her mind.

Agent Mulder smelled like the man of her dreams.

Mulder saw Scully taking off her white scarf, hat and coat, and she was dressed in a blue sweater. It occurred to Mulder if she would have a tattoo out there, hidden, those that can only be seen when the person is naked.

They began to talk about their respective conferences and discussed the points they had in common: after all, Mulder was looking for a concept about the human and she about the mutants, so she needed a broad concept of human, just what Mulder was looking for.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had spent more than an hour talking animatedly when the two of them were suddenly silent. Mulder looked at her in ecstasy.

\- "Why have not I had the pleasure of meeting you before, Agent Scully?". Scully smiled, reddening.

-"My office is in the basement, and you, Agent Mulder, work at the Bullpen." He smiled. "My partner and I did not spend much time in Washington, and when we do, we do not frequent the canteen or go to the Christmas party .Mulder got serious, listening to her

-"I do not care if the other agents talk about me or call me Frankenstein's girlfriend. I couldnt care less'' they both laughed '' but my partner takes it to heart: he is a very sensitive man. The first year he heard that someone said that if I had already slept with some ghost and my partner beat him and he was reported". 

Mulder leaned back in his chair, sighing, and said:

-"I'd have hit him too if Id heard that about my girlfriend."

Scully smiled and shook her head. -"He isnt my boyfriend, we do not have ... That kind of relationship: I love Agent Pendrell, but like a brother." 

Mulder smiled and Scully with him. They both felt so well together, like if they knew each other's life and it was natural that they could kiss one moment at a time.

"Do not you have time for love, Agent Scully?" ''. 

Scully thought his words and was sure he was flirting with her. God, how she liked that man! And she was sitting next to him, so close ... Her scent was invading her and she really wanted to kiss him. 

And he was flirting with her, isnt he?. She decided to take a chance:

"It's not about time, Agent Mulder," she said seductively. "It's about not having found the perfect man, but ... They say that everything can come true in New York at Christmas. Does that suggest anything to you, agent? ''.

Mulder smiled and closed his eyes a little.

She had been slowly approaching her face, and now her lips were so close that he could smell the peach tea that she had drunk and the wonderful coconut smell that emanated from her. It was exactly like in his dreams.

He moved a little closer and brushed his lips with hers, so she closed her eyes to let him kiss her and Mulder laid his lips on hers. Scully started to pull them apart, and suddenly she did not notice anything at all.

She opened her eyes confused and saw Mulder, and who was looking at her in fear and moved away from her. Scully looked at him in embarrassment and he said

"Scully ... I ... I'm married."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I hope to see you in chapter 3!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to say a huge thank you to you, Maria, who always leave a nice comment!

Scully was tied to a chair, her wrists and ankles ached because of the pressure. When she opened her eyes, a beam of light directed toward her face forced her to close them again. Suddenly, she heard a noise and the smell of stale sweat from someone who was there, with her.  
She heard some phrases in Germany and a word was imprinted in her mind: '' Unruhe, Unruhe ''.

Restlessness. Unrest.

She knew what was going to happen. Gerry Schnauz was going to perform a transorbital lobotomy on her and she would be left in a permanent vegetative state, trapped in the shell of herself. She could never tell anyone from her family that she loved them. She could not lend her support to the men of her life, Agent Mulder. She would become an animated doll that could never say again a coherent phrase: we can only think what we can say; Or was it the opposite?.  
In any case, it did not matter.

Gerry Schanauz skillfully introduced his tool through her left eye and agent Scully lost his ability to think. From now on, she even would not feel more heat, cold, or hunger; sensations so primary would even be vetoed to her. The pain made her faint.

And she fell into Nothingness.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully woke up screaming '' Mulder! '' Sweaty and cold at the same time. She looked around and found herself in the Hotel room that she had booked in New York cause the conferences. She turned her head and looked at her cell phone, it was at 5:17 in the morning. She leaned her head against the pillow and tried to calm down as she had learned:   
'' Breathe deeply for 4 seconds; Hold the air for 4 seconds; Exhale slowly for 4 seconds.  
Come back agent Scully. Come back, Dana. ''

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She had faced many killers already. And, as Pendrell said, she had become "The Woman Without Fear," like Daredevil. Donnie Pfaster made her afraid for her life, Eugene Tooms attacked her in her apartment; A Bounty Hunter kidnapping and she obtained her freedom in an exchange for a clone of Agent Pendrell’s brother.

But Gerry Schanuz made her feel a deep panic.  
He had the power to sneak into his nightmares with her deepest terror: to stop being whom she was. We are nothing more than our memories, if we lose them, what we are? A being condemned to look at a wall, which, once, was Dana Katherine Scully. She would be only one body that would wilt year after year. Would they shave her hair?  
She covered herself with the blanket up to the neck.

Gerry Schanauz had the ability to alter the photographs and, just as he took the last picture of her; He saw himself with his head broken: someone shot him. Frightened, I asked Scully what that meant. She replied:  
\- '' They are coming for you, Schanuz, my partner is close. ''

But even she did not believe it: she was terrified. To her surprise, Schnauz ran. Pendrell found her in a small van in the cemetery where Schnauz's father was buried. Schnauz was caught trying to jump over the graveyard wall. He was confined into a high-security mental center.  
Scully called every week to make sure he was still there.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder did not spend the night in New York.He felt like an idiot, so he drove slowly to Washington to get into his empty apartment. He was not tired, so he turned on the television and sat on the sofa, taking off his shoes and loosening his tie. On television, a man warned his woman that they were being attacked by a swarm of murderous ants and Mulder sighed.  
Why did he kiss a woman that he just met if he was a married and devoted married man?  
Agent Scully reacted badly when he told her that he was married. She stared coldly at him and whispered:

"I don’t like to be a one night stand." And she got up. Mulder got up with her and said "It's not what it seems" that made him feel even more ridiculous, but he did not know what to say. She simply ignored him and left. Probably, she would be thinking that he was one of those guys who take advantage of being alone a weekend at a convention or something, far from their wives, and try to live an affair with someone. Or maybe, Scully thought he was making fun of her again. What was her name, the name that Diana said? Diana? …Dana?

And he felt so extremely guilty. Diana was his wife; He was a married man who had never been unfaithful, even though he had had many opportunities. I did not understand himself, what had got into him? If only he could say that he was drunk...

Xxxxx

Scully was sitting next to Mulder and he saw thick tears dropping down her face. He grabbed his gun and, in front of him, a man told him to do it, to kill her. Scully told Mulder that he was stronger. But she was crying and he wanted to wipe her tears with kisses and tell her so many things he did not know if he would be able to say. And Scully said "Mulder, no!" but he heard the man saying, "Mulder, yes!" Mulder thought, thought, thought ... he loved her, he loved her, he loved her... 

"Mulder, yes!" And a shot.

Mulder awake on his sofa soaked in sweat.

Wow, this was from bad to worse: the red-haired woman who made him feel in love had become agent Scully.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

\- '' I'm just saying that you should give yourself a couple of days, maybe travel alone, you know? You should do something different. That usually helps to clarify our mind "Samantha said, sitting cross-legged on Mulder's couch. She was painting his toes with a red "Christmassy" nail polish. Basically, like she did every year at Christmas since he finished the university.  
"'Doing something by my own is not something different, Sam.' '

\- '' I mean, little brother, you should do something different to clarify your ideas. Or go to a real psychologist. '' Mulder laughed.

"Aren’t you a real psychologist?"  
\- "I treat children who have had a traumatic experience; you are old and the most traumatic thing that has happened to you in your life is ...’’  
"'That my sister paints my toes every year for Christmas.' ‘

Mulder finished for her.

"You didn’t let me paint them when I was little, so I developed a child trauma that makes me take revenge on your toes: I use them as a fetish." said Samantha smiling. '' And, seriously. You once told me that dreams were the answer to a question that we have not been able to ask. I imagine those nightmares you have and those dreams ... so pleasant '' Samantha laughs like a naughty girl '' mean that you are answering to a question that you ask yourself’’.  
-''Ok. What question, Samantha?’’.

\- '' Do you want me to tell you? ''. She answered very seriously.

"Psychoanalysis me, Freud" Mulder replied, teasing her..

\- '' You dream with a red-headed woman who loves you, with whom you make love and she tells you beautiful words. Her red hair symbolizes the forbidden, the wild, and the morbid. "Mulder wrinkled his nose” but it also symbolizes ‘’female’’, which means that you see femininity in that woman maternity. It's your desire to become a father.''

\- '' Bravo, child psychologist! ... Sam, everybody knows that I want to be a father.''  
"Yeah, I know" Samantha said, "but are you sure that Diana feels like you? Because she has suffered several miscarriages and you always complain that it is because she doesn’t the rest enough and that’s the reason why she lost your babies… That she cares more about her job than about her family.''

"I've never told you that" said Mulder, irritated.

"No" Samantha replied quietly, "but I know you and I know you think it. The question is: how long are you going put up with this situation?''.  
Mulder looked at his feet, the right foot had all the toes red and the left was about to be finished.

\- '' I am a great man’’ he thought ‘’Discussing my desire to be a father with my sister while she paints my toes instead of to be making precious babies with my wife. Mulder, the winner''.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder spent Christmas with his family and Diana did not return until 28th of December, exhausted and pale. Mulder went to pick her up at the airport and he planned a romantic dinner with her, since they had not been able to spend Christmas together. But when he noticed how tired she was, he decided to drive straight home. Mulder told her that Samantha had thrown all the sauce on the floor on Christmas Day and her mother almost died of a heart attack seeing her lunch ruined. They arrived at the apartment and Mulder ordered a pizza: half carbonara, half barbecue.

-''How was everything?''. He asked her while she was ready for to take a shower.

Diana remembered the fetus stored in freezers, clean and ordered, asleep; the scientists excited about the idea of creating a Super-soldier; the kids crying after applying the black virus, causing burns in their veins; women screaming for their babies...

Everything had gone well. They had made progress.  
"I think this year Christmas gave good luck to us, Mulder." She said smiling.

Mulder smiled too. She looked at him, thinking. He seemed away and she wondered if everything was going well. Maybe he had one of those new cases that stunned him so much. Diana thought that Mulder was very sensitive and more when children were involved. She wondered what he would think of her if he knew that she was working actively with kids. That she experimented with them. Would he understand her reasons?. He probably would not; reason why she never said a word to him about her job. Never. He would never believe that ‘’The Date’’ was scheduled and that she would be his savior.

-''The food in Louisiana is incredible, but the pizzas that they sell in Washington are even better'' She said biting her pizza, glad and satisfied.

Mulder didn’t talk too much. He felt so embarrassed. He had tried to kiss another woman, for God's sake! He felt like the dirtiest of men. He, Mulder the achiever.  
After dinner, she started to kiss him and Mulder let himself be done. It was pleasant to be at home.

Mulder felt her wet lips and her hands everywhere. A red-headed head kissed his whole body and moaned. She went up on him and she kissed his lips saying:

"I love playing baseball with you, Agent Mulder. You should give me more classes, maybe a couple a week. '' He went to answer "Your wishes are orders for me, agent Sc ..." but he opened his eyes and saw Diana’s face, looking at him excited.

"God!" Thought Mulder, "This has to stop! I’m becoming crazy!!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

4th January, Pendrell and Scully were in the office with nothing to do. Both had just come from the Christmas holidays and had no case. '' Good for the taxpayer, bad for our patience'' Agent Pendrell used to say.

Pendrell and Scully drank coffee and talked:

\- '' The Gunmen told me that he made fun of you. ''

"Oh, come on, Pendrell, he didn’t. He just said '' The Christmas Fairy.'' Scully said, thinking that if he knew what had happened after that with agent Mulder, her partner would kill him.  
\- '' Dana, you don’t care what they say about you, but I do.''

Scully smiled. "If it’s any consolation, he apologized and he told me that I was brilliant."

"Even that stupid psychologist has to surrender to the truth." Pendrell said, smiling '' I saw him several times when I worked in Quantico. You know what? Nobody stopped to say that he had a privileged mind and the girls that worked in the lab sighed for him: he had everything to be a winner. And you know what I thought about him? "Scully shook her head, saying no. "That he was a good person, Dana. That point was the most important thing, that he was a good person. We never talked, or anything, but I could tell. And ... now, I think that he’s gotten a big head about his successes’’.

Scully smiled: she knew the fame of Spooky, she had studied his papers in Quantico. They named him Spooky because it was sinister or strange that he could anticipate the steps of the serial killers so well; As if he was reading their minds anytime. But she only knew his reputation and now she had met him personally and he had not been how she expected after reading his books or attending his lecture: he was a damn seducer who did not respect his wife and had laughed at her. But ... why did he admit that he was married when he was going to kiss her? Feeling guilty, maybe?. 

'' Scully, you make me honest '' She thought he told her. And definitely, if Pendrell said that he had been a good person, he was. Or he had been.

"There's not much to do around here’’ She said bored.

Pendrell smiled.

-'' We could have popcorn and a movie, you know? I have never seen ''Bride of Frankenstein'' and I would like to know someday what your real name is.''

They both laughed until Scully got serious.

-''Really? Haven’t you seen the movie yet, Dr Frankenstein? "

"What about you?’’ Pendrell asked. "You love being famous and making movies about your life, you know that, Dana."

-'' I'll tell you the name if you pay for the popcorn, but real popcorn, not microwave popcorn.''  
Pendrell thought for a few seconds and said:

"Ummm, Eva?"

\- ''Eva? You can do it better! No, it's not Eva. "

-"Eva is a good name."

\- '' You didn’t get it’’.

-"I'll pay the popcorn".

Scully got up and started talking as if she were a professor teaching:

\- "The girlfriend of the monster has no name, just as the monster doesn’t have it either, cause nobody bothered to name a being like that, which contradicts what most believe: that Frankenstein was the name of the monster instead of his creator'' Scully stand up and pointed to Pendrell with her finger while he smiled "But the name of Frankenstein’s girlfriend was…’’

-‘’Elizabeth Lavenza’’.Mulder said.

Pendrell and Scully looked toward the door and saw a nervous and serious Mulder who, even so, smiled a little: he had been enjoying Scully's performance. He looked at Pendrell: a man with light color hair and blue eyes, he looked like someone shy and honest. There, next to Scully, one could actually say they seemed siblings.  
Scully tensed and Pendrell looked at him defiant:

"Agent Mulder, have you come to tell us about the Christmas Fairy?" He said, somewhat irritated by his presence, what the hell did this man in his office? Scully looked at Pendrell. "Calm down," she said to him with her gaze.

Mulder did not move:

-"I'd like to talk to Agent Scully, if you ... you aren’t very busy, please." Mulder said looking at Pendrell first and then at her. He noticed that Pendrell gazed at her like asking her what she want him to do until Scully gave him a half-smile of '' I'll be fine '' and Agent Pendrell stood up, not very determined, saying:

"Excuse me, Agent Mulder. I’m grabbing some popcorn.''

Xxxxxxxxx

Scully sat down in her chair. Mulder took a quick look around: Two desks together with two signs that said "Agent S. Pendrell" and "Agent D.K.Scully". Posters and photos of U.F.O.s everywhere next to Einstein’s funny faces, Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and a picture of Scully and a little boy sitting on top of a huge soft toy, Babe. It looked that they were having fun.

"How can I help you, Agent Mulder?" She said professionally.

Mulder stood there, staring at her. She was such small woman if he compared her with him that he thought he would kill her if he would make to her in her bed all those things that he dreamed, maybe He would not kill her but hurt her. 

"I honestly…honestly… apologize, Agent Scully ... for what happened in New York" Scully looked at him sternly. "I'm not the typical bored husband looking for an affair, even though it might seem to you the opposite."

Scully leaned back in the chair, looking at him very seriously. She saw that he was very nervous and seemed to be telling the truth: he seemed repentant. He seemed frightened and at the same time, he gaze at her like ... hungry? Worship? She blushed and felt like a stupid schoolgirl, but she remained serious and told him.

"Agent Mulder, I accept your apologies." She got up and picked up her coat, getting ready for walk out.

Mulder stared her move calmly, tucking one arm and then the other, her hair following the movements of her face.

Would she kill him if he push her at her desk and ripped off her shirt? If he kissed her until she couldn’t breathe?.

Scully looked at him, opening her eyes; she had noticed his gaze and blushed again: 

'' A married man should not look at another woman like that '' Mulder thought that she told him with her huge blue eyes. 

"I've seen you twice in my life, Agent Mulder, and twice, you have apologized. I hope that if I see you again, you won’t have to apologize a third time. Bye.''  
Scully walked out to the corridor and she looked back to him, who was there gazing at her amused and serious. She shook her head and started to climb the stairs.  
Mulder though that his legs couldn’t shake more when he was walking to his car.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To be continued in Chapter 4


	4. Chapter 4

7 January 2000.

Mulder dropped Diana to the airport. She had to go for a few days to do a follow-up work on a group of women who had been abducted or raped. Mulder was immersed in a difficult case in which a serial killer kidnapped twins between 5 and 6 years-old and he was becoming crazy: the men had kidnapped three pairs of twins and the FBI found the bodies of three children; but they still had to find the other twins. When the first twins disappeared, in December of the previous year, the matter was treated as a fortuitous kidnapping, but soon they realized that it was the work of a serial killer. Mulder was struggling to find the children alive ... how could he tell to the parents that they had lost both children?

"You’ll have close the case before I come back. I know you will'' and she kissed his lips with love.

Mulder kissed her back.

When she left, he felt almost relieved.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Diana returned on January 15, when Mulder had already made a perfect psychological profile and had caught the murderer, Meurig Jones, from Ohio. Mulder returned three alive children to their respective families and he felt glad. He made love to Diana until extenuation, and she was surprised that he showed her as much desire as in the first years of their relationship.

The only thing that had changed was that, he called her "agent" instead of "Di". 

On January 20, Diana travelled again, to Louisiana this time because 4 test subjects had escaped from the laboratory: four women who were experiencing cancer after removing their implants. Diana told Mulder the same lie that they would be said in the news: four dangerous woman were sought by the FBI.

Mulder sat in front of the television when Diana left, feeling alone and frustrated.

When he fell asleep, he dreamed with the joyous face that Agent Scully had when she was appeared before the Congress and he walked in after his interesting trip around Russia. Mulder woke up smiling: How imaginative and original dreams could be! As if he had ever been in Russia!

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On January 22nd, Mulder drive to Connecticut to congratulate Samantha on her birthday. He bought a nice handbag for her and she was very happy and told Mulder that they would wait for Diana to come back to run a proper Birthday party. They sat on the stairs in her porch; it was a cold afternoon but Samantha loved to feel the cold in her face. Mulder sat two steps below her and looked at her. She was always so smiling that it spread her joy.

"How are you? Have you had more dreams about the red-haired woman, Fox?" Mulder nodded.

"Just that she's not the red-headed-women anymore, Sam, she's got a face now; She’s an FBI agent. That woman that I told you I’d met in New York. We talked and it was her voice, Sam, you cannot imagine how I felt when I heard her, as if I had known her forever and I could trust her more than anyone. ''  
"What did you talk about?" Samantha was even surprised that her brother had some ‘’social life’’: His job was very important for him: he saved lives; and he spent his time working or with Diana, when he could; and with his family, whom he adored.

\- '' We talked about our respective conferences, our work. She told me that she was single''.

"Fox?" Samantha said, her eyes widening in surprise. "Did you talk about your privates lives?"

\- ''I told you, Sam, it was very strange, as if I had known her all my life'' Mulder said, shaking his head as if it was difficult for him to talk about that matter with his younger sister.

"You have to think about your life, Fox. You’re not the man that you were once".

"What do you mean, Sam?" Mulder asked confused.

\- "You've always been a cheerful and honest man, with a smile that could be seen miles away and you're not like that anymore" - said Samantha sadly "I miss my brother, that good man who was happy and make everybody happy as him. You are becoming a sad and a frustrated man and you cannot let that happen to you. You have to take your life in your own hands'.'

Mulder looked down, nodding.

"When you disappeared, Sam, I promised myself I would find you, whatever happens, '' Mulder said, he notices the sad faces that her sister had, but he continued '' when you showed up, I swore I would work in the FBI and will be the greatest hunter of malefactors in the world, Sam, and when I grew up, I promised myself that I would have a wife and I will protect her and love her, and also, I will have some children that I would protect from everything and I will give them the love that I think we should give in this world ''. Mulder ran his hand through his hair and laughed in frustration "and the only thing that went well is that, sometimes, I hunt a guy before he kills his fourth victim".

Sam nodded in understanding: her sister-in-law's continues miscarriages were disappointing to everyone. Sam did not want to imagine how Mulder must have felt when that happened. But she believed that Mulder was scorned: he had accomplished much and had done much for many people, and she told him:

"You're the best brother anyone could ever dream, Fox Mulder. You are person who cares for your family. You have always respected your wife, understanding her and protecting her…and you have hunted more killers than Spiderman. And so, Fox ... "Samantha said slowly. “You deserve to think about your life and be happy. Think you cannot make a child happy if you're not first''.

They both looked at the floor and were quiet for a while.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Diana did not return until January 29. On February 3, he announced to Mulder that she was flying to Canada.

-'' To Canada? Why should an FBI agent fly to Canada? Are you going to help the Mounted Police, Diana? "

"'Don’t be sarcastic with me, Fox. You know my job is important’’.

-''Is it? For who, Diana? Tell me for who, because the only important thing to me is to make a family and be happy and make it happy. '' Mulder said, almost shouting. Diana stared at him.

"I used to be important for you" Diana said, sunk.

Mulder hugged her and gently apologized to her. He felt like a proper shit.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On February 13, Diana returned from Canada. Mulder went to pick her up to the airport, feeling guilty for everything: for how he spoke to her before she left, for thinking and dreaming with Agent Scully and for trying to kiss her when he first met her in New York.

On February 14, Mulder woke up with a Valentine's card from Diana. Mulder put it in a shelf and thanked her. They had breakfast together and he went to work, promising her a romantic dinner in an Italian restaurant when he were free in the afternoon. In his car, he thought about how many cards agent Scully would get.

He knew nothing of her life. She had told him that she had no time for love, but did she mean that there was no one in her life? Not even a lover? Mulder frowned. The only idea that someone would do to Agent Scully what he dreamed that he make her in bed made him feel deeply irritated. Jealous.

He decided to send her an anonymous Valentine’s card. There was nothing wrong with that, was there? It was not like if he was trying to kiss her or ask her for a date, he wanted just to let her know that someone was thinking about her. Could a married man do that? He really should not, it was very bad. And it would only increase the feeling of guilt he already felt when he was with Diana. Even so, he bought a card and asked the shop assistant to write the note for him. The young blonde girl smiled sadly, "Another frustrated lover!" she thought.

Mulder looked at the card: a piece of red cardboard with a silver glitter heart pierced by a yellow arrow. Who would be the person in charge of paint those horrible cards? The young girl wrote something as she was told by him and put it in the envelope and Mulder drove to the Hoover thinking how to give it to agent Scully avoiding everybody that could see him. 

Diana left again on February 21, to North Dakota this time.

And when she left, Mulder realized they had not made love since mid-January. Diana had tried, but he simply could not. It was crazy for him to close his eyes and see Agent Scully moaning his name and opening them and find that he was holding Diana with his arms.

"Is that how you want to have children, bastard?” He said to himself on the mirror."Giving your wife away? ".

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On February 16, Pendrell walked in to his office and found a red envelope on the floor next to the door. They had been in the Appalachians, chasing a mutant who could stretch his arms 3’21’’ and had taken revenge on the purchase he had suffered at school. Pendrell lifted the envelope off the ground and saw that it had no sender, but it had a single ‘’S’’ writing. He felt a lump in his throat. A letter for Dana!

And he began to think thousands of possibilities, each worse: Someone was in love with Dana; It was a threatening from the Consortium; One of the malefactors who they had jailed in the past sent a note to Dana to threaten her ... Dana had a lover.

Someone was in love with Dana.

But for him, Dana was "his Dana". The woman he loved. He sat at the desk with the envelope in his hand and smiled. His dream was that Dana would leave the X-Files and get the happy life that she deserved. He knew it would not be with him, since his love was not reciprocated, but ... This card might be a beginning for her.

Scully walked into the office saying:

"Good morning, Sean, Skinner called me in. He wants to ask us some questions about The Appalachian Mutant ... What is that?" She asked, looking at the red envelope that Pendrell held in his hand.

It was here when I arrived this morning, it's for you," and he gave it to her with a sad smile on his lips. He went out the door saying that he would go for a couple of coffees before going up to talk to Skinner. Scully opened the envelope and saw the shining hear. She was amused: she had not received a Valentine's card since high school. She opened the card carefully and read:

\- "You should not stick like that in people's heads. You're driving me crazy."

Scully closed it and put it in a drawer of her desk, a lump in her throat and feeling miserable.

How could she allow herself the horrible and low luxury wish that the card were from a married man?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

On February 23, an exhausted Mulder went to sleep when he got a call from Patterson:

"Agent Mulder, we have an emergency: three FBI agents and 10 civilians have been hostages by four women in the Hoover building and all available agents have been mobilized."

"In the Hoover, sir?" Asked Mulder, putting on his shoes.

"Yes, agent. May you come as soon as possible? “Patterson asked, tired.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Mulder arrived, he checked the situation with a quick glance: there were snipers stationed in nearby buildings and the street had been cordoned off after being evacuated. Six FBI cars created a semicircle around the front door of the building, and Mulder guessed that all the entrances were the same. Mulder wore his blue water proof jacket with yellow letters that said ‘’FBI’’ and through the police barrage. Patterson saw it and approached him:

-"They are four women, Lucille Henderson, Francesca Martin, Elena Smith and Rosanne Hills, ages 31, 31, 32 and 33. They say that they have been ‘’abducted’’ by the government to experiment with them and claim that the FBI is behind everything they say they just want their babies to be returned. "Mulder looked at the women's Medical Records and Patterson continued:

\- "They say they will not let anyone out until we give them back their babies; they have given us 24 hours to do it. They also say they have a bomb in the building that will be detonated at the end of the term."  
"But ... Sir, in their records don’t appear a word saying that they were pregnant." Mulder said confused.

\- "Pregnant not, but all four have terminal cancer in the sinuses. We think that their illness has made them develop a kind of group paranoia."  
Mulder nodded, "They know they're terminals: they have nothing to lose." He said worried.

Patterson started to walk headed to the cars followed by Mulder:

"One of the kidnapped agents has been injured, we don’t know if he's still alive. His partner, Agent Scully, has volunteered to enter the building and talk to them, saying she's the only one who can".

Mulder was almost breathless and more so when he saw Agent Scully in front of him. A telecommunications agent was placing a microphone on his chest, under the bulletproof vest before the attentive eyes of D.A. Walter Skinner. She turned her head to see him arrive but returned to the agent's explanations. She wore blue trousers full of pockets and a white nurse's top was put on the bulletproof vest.

"You cannot go in there, Agent Scully, it's a suicide" Mulder said, grabbing her arm to get her attention. Agent Scully barely moved and said calmly:

"I have no choice, Agent Mulder: My partner has been injured, I am a Medicine Doctor and I believe that ... I am the only person these women will listen to."

"Why do you think so, Agent Scully?”

Scully looked at him slowly and said:

"I don’t have enough time to give you much more information, Agent Mulder. Trust what I say to you". Scully said seriously.

Mulder nodded and looked at Patterson, who said:

\- "You have to admit that the doctor is brave".

Mulder nodded:

\- "Sir, ask for another microphone. I'm going with her". Scully tried to protest but Mulder smiled calmly:

"I won’t let you get into that mousetrap yourself, Agent Scully. Trust me as I do trust you"

Scully nodded and Mulder repeated:

"I won’t leave you alone."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder and Scully talked for a few minutes alone before walk in.

\- '' Agent Scully, have you ever done this before? ''.

"No, but they'll listen to me, I'm sure."

Mulder did not understand:

"Is there something I should know? I mean, before we get in there ... or do you think these women would listen to you only because you’re a woman? ''.

Scully replied, very seriously:

"'Agent Mulder, I don’t have time to tell you anything now; I only remember that my partner is injured and I want to save him ... Or at least try. All I ask you is that, please you speak as little as possible and not act as an FBI agent. Those women have suffered a lot. ''

\- '' Yes, I know, I’ve read their records. They’re terminal cancer patients who have developed a collective paranoia. "

Scully shook her head.

-''Is that the official version? ''.

-''What do you mean? ''.

But before she said anything else, D. A. Skinner approached them:

"Are you sure you want to do this, Agent Scully?".

She looked at him seriously and nodded. Mulder noticed that they both knew each other well and trusted each other. And he did not know why, instinctively, he also trusted that man.

"And you, Agent Mulder?" ''.

"Yes, 100%."

Skinner nodded and spoke for a walkie-talkie:

\- ''Agents ready, inside in 1 minute. '' And he turned to Scully. "Be careful, Dana."

Mulder and Scully started walking toward the front door.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Smoking Man got a call to his office in New York.

"It’s Agent Fowley. Four of the subjects escaped from the laboratory in Louisiana have taken hostages in the Hoover. I just landed in Washington, sir, waiting for your orders. ''

The Smoking Man took a long drag of his cigar and said:

"Who are the agents involved, Diana?"

"Adam and Hackman, from Violent Crimes; Pendrell and Scully and ... Agent Mulder, sir. He's going to get into the building with Agent Scully. "

The Smoking Man stared at the ceiling. He was not a man of weaknesses, he had none, but if something came close to having a weakness, it would be Agent Scully and her bold heart. He knew that he could never make her adhere to his cause, being an idealist as she was and destroying her life "for the victims." But he couldn’t help himself: sometimes, he found himself thinking about what it would be to stroke her hair. Yes, Agent Scully was the closest to a weakness.

"Make sure the FBI agents are alive, Diana. We do not want unnecessary publicity."

And he hung up worried.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The front door opened and Mulder and Scully entered the hall. A woman dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a blue scarf tied to her head and a gas masks, pointed them with a gun and the three of them started walking to one of the meeting rooms where the hostages were. Everything had passed very quickly; The four women approached the building, someone called threatening that there was a bomb and, among the chaos to evacuate all, the women took hostage the three agents and 10 people from a group of tourists who were joining one of the weekly tours that were organized.

Mulder and Scully came in and saw the hostages lying face down and Agent Pendrell badly wounded in the left thigh: Scully saw the bright red color coming out of her leg and knew that they had been given in an artery.

One of the women approached them, pointing at them:

\- '' Who is the doctor? ''. One of the women asked, with a strong accent. Mulder thought she probably was born in Louisiana. In the meantime, one of the women searched them, looking for weapons; and Mulder felt more relaxed when he saw that the woman had not noticed the little gun that he always hide on his ankle.

Scully said it was her and Mulder analyzed the women quickly: they looked desperate.

\- ''We want everybody to know what is happening, what the Government is doing to thousands of women. And we want to get our babies back. You won’t be able to attend the injured agent until they promise to do what we ask. "  
Scully looked at Pendrell and felt a lump in her throat. He seemed to have fainted, pale as a wall. Mulder spoke with his usual psychological speech that was always so effective:

\- '' We are here to help you, to all of you. We don’t wish anyone what you’ve been through and we understand you ''. 

The woman smiled wryly:

"You both have no idea, agents, no idea. ''

Scully stared into her eyes and said,

"'Maybe he doesn’t, but I ... do.' '

And slowly, at the stunned look of Mulder, she turned and lifted his hair: everyone saw a scar on the back of the neck and the armed woman lowered her pistol and smiled, relieved.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you telling me that everything they say is true, Agent Scully?" '' Mulder whispered. They were both sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall. All the hostages had left, and so had Agent Pendrell; Scully had been an effective negotiator, basically because she was like them and because she convinced them that the FBI would never negotiate with them, because of it politic. The only option was to save time and that the kidnappers had four agents who life was an insurance for them, at least in the short term.

Scully had talked to Skinner twice and had pressured him to send it to a television camera and the women could tell what they knew to the world. And there they were, waiting:

"That's what my partner and I’ve been trying to investigate all these years, Agent Mulder. Our Government’s been conducting experiments and these women are the proof of something that is happening on a global scale.''

Mulder thought of the conversation that these women and Agent Scully had had: the women told Scully about the experiments, the implants, the cancer, the missing babies, the sterility ... What kind of human person could do something like that? Mulder felt like vomiting and did not want to believe anything they said, ... But ... What if they said the truth ?. He looked at Agent Scully, sitting there, such a small thing, she seemed so helpless, but she was not; she was a strong and a brave woman who did not hesitate to interchange herself for 11 people.

"And ... have you been through the same thing that them?" Mulder asked, afraid to ask that question and the correspondent answer.

Scully looked sadly into his eyes and said:

"Not exactly, Agent Mulder" she said, remembering her little Emily, who died a few days after meeting her and could never be buried "but I promise you that they’re telling you the truth"

Mulder took Scully's hand in front of her amused face and kissed her fingers stained with Agent Pendrell's blood.

"I believe you, Agent Scully."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And suddenly the fire alarm went on with its thunderous noise and Scully rose to her feet in alarm.

-"It is a trap!" She shouted to the leader of the group, Roseanne. Mulder got up and Roseanne, in a desperate act, grabbed Scully by the waist and pointed her to the head with her gun. The room began to fill with smoke and the women, with gas masks, and the 2 agents began to leave outside the room, where shouts and shots were heard. Mulder could barely see and he heard Scully cough, but Roseanne kept aiming for Scully and forced her to walk toward the exit. Mulder bent down and pulled out his ‘’secret’’ gun, pointing at Roseanne.

"Leave her ..." he began, but a fit of cough forced him to stop. Roseanne said to Mulder:

\- "I just want ... To leave ... From here .... With life ... I want to find ... My ... Son". She said behind the mask.  
Mulder was at the door and he could breathe a bit better, but he saw Scully stop coughing and seemed to faint from lack of oxygen. He saw her fall to the ground, so he fired Roseanne to the hand in which she carried the gun and entered for Scully, taking her in his arms. It was impossible for him to know where they were, with the smoke and the noises: Mulder could barely see anything and he couldn’t almost breathe, which was more complicated carrying Scully. Until he saw a yellow light that moved and ran to it. It was a Special Operations agent who point him to the exit. Once outside, a paramedic put oxygen on Scully and Mulder smiled and fainted saying:

"You make me honest."  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Smoking Man received a call:

\- '' The test subjects are in our facilities; Four burned corpses have been deposited instead of them at the Hoover. The news will say that the bomb was homemade and had a failure that caused the fire in the building. The real bomb has been found after ... making one of the kidnappers talk. The four FBI agents have come alive. "

"'Perfect, Agent Fowley.'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder woke up in the hospital shouting: "Scuuuully! " but a nurse told him not to worry, that everything was fine. He felt a little dizzy.  
"" What happened? "

"You're a hero, Agent Mulder, it's all the news." Mulder looked at her in surprise. "When the hostages came out, a fire broke out in the building and you pulled an officer in his arms, saving himself from drowning. In addition to releasing 11 hostages ... It's a you a hero! ".

-''I did nothing... ''.

\- '' Do not be modest: you have saved many lives. ''

\- "How are the kidnappers?".

"They were all burned to death in the fire" said Mulder's partner, Jerry Lamana, walking through the door. He smiled and gave Mulder a pat on the back as a greeting. "How do you feel, buddy?"

Mulder shook his head. He remembered nothing. How had the fire come? Would it have been a strategy of the Special Forces? But ... Why did not they tell Scully and him before they get in to the building?

"There was an agent with me, Jerry, Agent Scully, do you know where she is?" ''.

"Yes, she woke up about twenty minutes ago and is with her partner. The boys and I are going to have a few beers to celebrate. Are you well enough to come with us? ".  
Mulder said he did not think it was a good idea.

"I'm going to check your vital signs and you can leave." The nurse said smiling.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder found Scully sitting in front of Pendrell’s room. She was pale and tired, with dark circles around her eyes.

"Hello" he said sitting down next to her. Scully smiled.  
'' How is your partner doing? ''.

"He's lost a lot of blood, but he'll get out of it."

\- ''Do you want me to ask for a taxi so you can rest for a while? ''.

"I'm going to spend the night here" she said in the middle of a yawn that she tried to cover with her hand. "My partner has no family." She looked at Mulder gratefully and said sincerely, "Thanks for everything. For accompanying me, for listening and for ... saving my life. "

Mulder shrugged.

"It's a tradition in my family: the Mulders save women every week." Scully smiled.  
Mulder settled next to her on the sofa and she looked at him in astonishment:

\- '' Are not you going to go celebrate it with the others, with your colleagues? ''.  
Mulder shook his hand, no: "There's an agent injured, Agent Scully, there's nothing to celebrate."

Scully smiled.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

During the night, both fell asleep, but Mulder woke up and saw Scully's position, his neck twisted.

"Agent Scully," he said barely, "you're going to hurt your neck."

She moved, still asleep, toward him, and snuggled into his chest, saying "Mulder." Mulder hugged her to warm her and began stroking her hair slowly. Agent Scully was light and small in his arms and smelled like the smoke from the fire, but still with the coconut scent, exactly the same that the night he met her. Her hair was so soft that, caressing it, he began to fall asleep.

"Mulder ... we are... plenty ... of time." Scully said in a dream and Mulder felt happy and miserable at the same time: Scully was dreaming about him. Would Agent Scully feel about him like he felt about her?

For the first time in years, Mulder wished he had never married.


	5. Chapter 5

Mulder was kissing to Scully, who was leaning against the office door, while he struggled with his hands to pull her skirt up to her waist and she, anxiously, put her legs around his waist and one of her shoes fell to the floor. When the skirt was at her waist, he lifted her a little more she clung to his neck. Mulder slipped his arms under her knees and she almost shouted "Mulder, please, I want you inside now" And someone hit her on the shoulder. She thought:  
"Oh my God, Skinner caught us!" She opened her eyes to see a nurse gesturing, and she whispered to her "The scan is gonna be in five minutes." Scully nodded sleepily, but did not want to get up, she was so comfortable there sleeping with Mulder, so warm in his arms...  
Sleeping with Mulder.  
She opened her eyes in terror and saw that she was sitting on top of him while he held her. She got up carefully, not wanted to wake him up, not only to respect that he was still asleep, but because she thought she would feel very embarrassed if he would wake up with her between his arms. What was she going to say? Something like? ‘’ I usually do not fall asleep on married men, but I decided to make an exception with you" She looked in her pockets and wrote a small note, which she left in his hand. As she walked, drowsily still, down the hallway to the traumatology floor, Mulder moved and said, dreaming: "Scully."  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
When Mulder woke up, he found a note in his hand, written in round, quick letters "I'm going with my partner to get his scanner done, sorry to have fallen asleep on top of you, Scully." Mulder smiled and looked at his clothes: he still smelled like coconut, like Agent Scully, despite the smell of smoke after the fire. He stretched and decided to go to the Hospital's canteen and buy a coffee for himself and another for Scully and go up to look for her on the Third floor. He nodded, smiling. Now he knew that her name was Dana, as A.D. Skinner had said.  
A lovely Irish name. He put the note in his pocket.  
"Fox!" He heard someone calling him. He turned his head and saw Diana and Samantha walking down the hall toward him. They both hugged him and Mulder felt a little annoyed: he wanted to go see Scully, but the smiling faces of Diana and Samantha made him feel guilty. He had his wife in front of him, and he was thinking of going to see an agent he barely knew.  
"How are you?" He said, running his hand over Diana's shoulders "When did you get here?"  
‘’An hour ago. Fox, why didn’t you call us? Agent Lamana had to do it to tell us what had happened" Diana said, a bit hurt.  
“Nothing happened, I'm fine. They brought me unconscious from the smoke of the fire and I came to see how Agent Pendrell was doing it, because he was shot in the Hoover ... And I fell asleep" He passed his hand through his hair, nervously and Diana frowned.  
"You're a hero, brother, you're in all the news."  
"Really? ". He asked embarrassed.  
"Yes, I’ve a got a newspaper in the car that talks about your impressive performance last night with those kidnappers." Samantha said squeezing Mulder's left arm with both hands, excited. Mulder felt a little confused and told them he would like to go home, so the three of them started walking toward the exit. Samantha in front of them and Diana and Mulder behind , hand in hand.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Agent Scully, who had come downstairs to see if Mulder had woken up after his partner's scanner, watched them walk away and could not help feeling a pang of jealousy when she saw that leggy and brunette woman holding Mulder’s hand. His wife, no doubt. Scully could not see her face but, from the back, she seemed to have an impressive body and she heard theirs happy voices talking about what a hero Mulder had been.  
Mrs. Mulder.  
Scully looked at the two paper cups full of coffee in her hands and threw the Latte that she had bought for Mulder into the bin, with contained rage. "You're a stupid dwarf, Dana." She thought sadly, unable to keep the tears in her eyes.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
"I can’t believe you walked inside the Hoover with Frankenstein's girlfriend" Diana said, she whimpering eggs to cook Mulder's breakfast.  
"His name is Agent Scully," Mulder said, not hiding his annoyance at the nickname that Diana had used.  
“I don’t care what her name is. What were you thinking? For God's sake, Fox! You’re not even her partner, and everyone knows that those two spend more time in the hospital than at home. You shouldn’t put yourself in such a dangerous situation" Diana said irritated, thinking in what would have happened if Smoking Man had ordered "Overall Cleanup"  
Mulder watched her cook for him and thought she was just worried, that she was taking care of him and was afraid that something had happened to him. And she had come back from her job, whatever she was, as soon as she heard what happened, even though nothing had happened to him. And he had slept holding another woman. They had breakfast in silence and Diana suggested they go to bed for a while. It was very early and she had not slept all night and Mulder looked exhausted.  
Mulder took a quick shower and went to their bedroom. Once in bed, Diana began to kiss him with the intention of making love, but Mulder excused himself saying that he was exhausted. He simply could not do it. Diana did not look offended; she thought that he was really tired after spending the night in the hospital. She settled on Mulder's chest and fell asleep. Mulder smelled her perfume: Diana always used those expensive perfumes that smelled so good, but Mulder missed Scully’s aroma which had been so deeply bear in his mind after the night before.  
Diana moved a little and he tried to hug her, and suddenly, he felt as if their bodies did not fit. Scully was so small that he could hold her whole body on his chest, sitting there in the waiting room of the Hospital. Diana was almost as tall as him, and Mulder thought that she was too big for him. Ironically, Diana was his type: tall, brunette, thin and leggy. Instead of, Agent Scully was the opposite of what he had considered his type for years. He sighed in frustration.  
He thought that if he could have her there with him, he would not feel tired and would be slowly making love to her.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
That night, at 4am, Jerry Lamana called Mulder to tell him that they had a case in Maine. They had found the bodies of three trappers and another one was missing. Mulder got up slowly, trying not to wake Diana up and put winter clothes in his suitcase: he knew how hard winters could be there. He looked in his dirty trousers for the note Scully had left for him in the morning and he put it in his pocket, as if it were an amulet. And he headed to the airport after to write a brief note to Diana. In the taxi he sighed in frustration: he did not know when he would return from Maine, which meant he did not know when he would see her again. He was surprised to realize he was thinking about when he would see Scully again.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
1st March.  
"I still can’t believe that Agent Mulder walked into the building with you, Dana." Pendrell said, sitting in his hospital bed "You’re not his partner or anything ..." Scully could not help herself and blushed. She had thought to go to talk with Agent Mulder and thank him for his help, but she had not done so because he was out of town and ... because he was a married man and she was a dwarf idiot who had slept in his arms. And she had dreamed that they made love and was terrified if she had said his name.  
She was definitely redder than a tomato. Pendrell looked at her and frowned. He started to ask her something when someone knocked on the door and Mulder poked his head out, asking if he could come in. Scully's face lit up with a big smile and Agent Mulder walked over to Pendrell's bed looking at her and smiling while he said, "Agent Pendrell, I just wanted to know how you were doing ... Agent Scully" he said in greeting. Pendrell looked at them both and felt embarrassed, like if they were the only people that existed in the world, so he said nothing until they both turned to him, remembering his presence;  
"Thank you for coming, Agent Mulder. I'll be discharged tomorrow, but I won’t be able to start working for three weeks."  
"It's a bit early for discharge," Scully continued, "but he's a very bad patient that the nurses almost made him sign the volunteer discharge the day after he was admitted".Mulder smiled and Pendrell said, "Thank you for what you did for Scully and for all of us, Agent Mulder." And he held out his hand. Both shake hands, as if they both were signing a peace statement.  
"When Patterson told me that Agent Scully was coming in, I thought maybe it would help a psychologist, given the history of those women." Mulder said and Scully turned to him and said, "And that saved my life, Agent Mulder." Mulder looked at the floor, blushed, and Scully imitated him. Pendrell could not believe what he was seeing. Finally, after a short conversation, Mulder left.  
"Dana, what are you doing?" Pendrell asked irritated and quiet. Scully looked at him as if she did not understand - "Agent Mulder is a married man, Dana, ma-rri-ed," Pendrell said almost desperately. Scully try to play offended. "And why are you telling me that? I know perfectly well that he's married and I would never think of having a relationship with a married man." Pendrell sighed,  
"Dana, I've got eyes in my face, I've seen how he looks at you and how you look at him, you can deny everything or tell me the truth, in any case, I know you well and I don’t want anyone to hurt you’ Scully nodded and took Pendrell's hand, who said:  
"I don’t want any conceited men to harm my partner."  
"I will not let anyone hurt me again, Sean." Pendrell nodded sadly.

"Has anything happened between both of you?" Scully shook her head, no. The only thing that had happened between them was that they almost kissed but he was honest about his marriage and she sent him away. And that she had slept on top of him. And she thought in Mulder 24/7.  
A nurse came in to change Pendrell's sheets and Scully said goodbye to him. Pendrell watched her leave with a shrunken heart. He loved her and he knew that his love was not reciprocated, but he wanted Scully to be happy with a good man and yes, Mulder was a good man, or had been; but he was married. What if he hurts Dana?

He would have no choice but to kill him.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2nd March.  
Diana announced that she was six weeks pregnant and Mulder felt happy. Diana's gynecologist had told them that, after the last miscarriage that she had suffered, they should wait at least 2 full cycles, so Diana had become pregnant around 17th January. If everything would go well, a little Mulder or a little Diana would be born in August.

Mulder wanted to be a father like he had never wanted before, and dreamed with a small, blond, round-faced girl named "Emily" who liked to draw potatoes. And he dreamed about Agent Scully as the mother, who explained him that their daughter was very shy but would change.

In 4th March, Diana told Mulder that she had to fly to Dallas, only for a couple of days. Before his insistence that she kept quiet so that nothing would happen to the baby, Diana promise him that she would not make physical efforts or anything that could compromise the health of the fetus and Mulder exploded:

-''Fetus? Did you just say Fetus? Are you a doctor now or what? It's not a fetus, Diana, it's my son, don’t you understand? It's our son and you, you Diana," he said, pointing his finger at her," you're going to kill him as you've done with the other four "fetuses" before” Diana, red of anger and without to say a word, slammed the door shut. Mulder hit the door when she stepped out and made his knuckles turn purple.  
Mulder was starting to feel desperate, alone and frustrated.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

5th March.

"I can’t believe that you saved the red-haired woman, Fox," Samantha said. Mulder had decided to spend Saturday with Samantha since Diana would not arrive until Sunday. He did not want to tell Samantha anything about Diana's pregnancy until she was not in at least 12 weeks.  
"Her name is Scully, Sam." Samantha smiled.

"That's not a name, it's a last name."

\- '' Her first name is Dana. We always call each other '' Agent Mulder '' and '' Agent Scully '' so I don’t feel very comfortable calling her Dana ... Also, she's never told me to do it. "

Samantha noticed how her brother smiled and how his face brightened when he talked about that red-haired woman. And she felt bad for ask it, but she had to do it:

"And, Fox ... the times you've spoken ..." Samantha started, as if she did not know how to ask that question to her brother” I know there haven’t been many, but... Do you know if she would like to be a mother, like you ... would like to be a father?’’ Mulder looked at Samantha in astonishment.  
"What kind of question is that, Samantha?” And Mulder shook his head as if trying to get a thought out of it." How would I know? We’ve never talked about it. ''

Samantha smiled at the perplexity of her brother.

"Why are you asking me, Sam?" ''.  
"Fox, you should know by now that I'm a very curious woman" She said with a huge smile on her lips. She got up from the porch stairs and Mulder followed inside.

\- What kind of apocalypse do you prefer on the movie tonight: zombie, alien or viral infection? '' She asked to his brother.  
‘’Ummmm" Mulder thought as they walked in the house, "don’t you have anything romantic like normal women? '' Mulder teased her.

\- "I’ve got one about a zombie that eats half town for to save her family, if that's what you mean," Samantha replied smiling.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder and Samantha were sitting watching the movie: it was about a young writer female named Sicaru whose husband and son were taken hostage in a laboratory to experiment a virus that turned humans into zombies. Sicaru had infected and she used her thirst for meat to save them, but at the end, she could not go with them because of her virus and was left alone, walking among the rest of the zombies: she gave up everything to save her family.

Mulder watched Samantha crying as she watched the last scene. Her sister was a happy woman, but she also enjoyed spending time alone and did not have many friends, as Mulder. Samantha had had a half-boyfriend in high school and a boyfriend in college and after them, she had devoted herself entirely to "her children," the children she treated as a psychologist. And she wanted to "spoil a nephew," as she put it. Her return was the best gift that Mulder had ever received in her life.

She had spent years having nightmares about the month that she was missing and never talked about it. She woke up screaming and soaked in sweat, asking if they had finish the experiments. They never found out who the kidnaper was or what they had done to her. She was not rape, but that was the only thing Samantha knew for sure about that days. Everyone believed that those scientists in white coats and the lights with which she dreamed were the product of her imagination, a way to sublimate her fears of being kidnapped again.  
Mulder turned his head to the screen. Sicaru's little son was shouting "Mom!" And Sicaru went away weeping and drenched in the blood of her victims, afraid of losing what little human consciousness she had left and attacking them.

"You see Diana ... a woman whose family matters ... and she's a zombie," Mulder thought

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

7th March

Agent Scully walked up to the Third floor of the Hoover Building and headed to the Violent Crimes Unit. When she opened the door, 27 pairs of eyes stared at her from their desks, but she ignored them. She made her way to the door of a small office in which a sign said "F. W. MULDER" and knocked. She heard Agent Mulder's voice said:

'' I'm busy unless you bring pizza or the latest Triple-X edition'' Scully smiled and pushed the door, poking her head and saying,

'' I'm afraid I haven’t bring either, Agent Mulder. ''

He saw Mulder sitting at the table, his legs dangling apart, his sleeves rolled up, and his hair disheveled. He was wearing glasses and reading a file. She smiled to herself: that man could not be sexier. Mulder jumped on the desk when he saw her:

"Agent Scully!" He stood up and dropped all the files on his lap to the floor:

"Come in, please, take ... take a seat, Agent Scully," he said nervously, stooping to pick up the files lying on the floor. Scully closed the door behind her and stood there watching Mulder put all the files back on the desk.  
He turned to her and saw she was still there, not moving, so he looked around and saw that the visitor's chair had a heap of files on it at least 14 inches above. Mulder ran his hand over his head, thinking that his little office was a great mess and he walked over to the chair to bring it to Scully, saying,

"You can sit here," but as he approached to the chair to clear the files, he threw them all to the floor: soon the whole floor was full of files and Scully crouched beside him to help pick them up while Mulder said Something like:

"Obviously, Agent Scully, you can come whenever you want. You don’t have to ... bring pizzas ... or ... burgers ... You know? And much less ... Triple-Xs ... is a magazine overvalued ... In my opinion. ''

Mulder sighed thinking it was a fucking mess and Scully struggled to keep from laughing as she put files on Mulder's desk. Finally, all the files were on the table and Mulder had calmed down a little after his surprise, so he invited her to sit and asked her about Agent Pendrell. Scully told him that he was well, bored with being home, but that he should rest if he did not want to be left with a permanent limp after the shot he had received in the thigh.  
They both fell silent. Scully glanced around and saw that the walls were filled with archive photos of murderers and victims and that behind Mulder was a huge US map filled with post-its with something written on, like:  
‘’2/12 / 1994- Madeleine Cartel’’. Cases that he was still investigating.

"I’m here, Agent Mulder," Scully began, "because I wanted to thank you for ... saving me that day and, most importantly, trusting me that day in the Hoover. I don’t think anybody from the FBI would have done anything like this, except ... You‘’ Mulder saw as Scully blushed as she spoke and thought it was a gift from heaven to visit this woman.

"I don’t think I deserve the thanks, Agent Scully. Like you, I had no choice but to try help’’

"No," Scully said, shaking her head, "You had the choice of letting myself in like everyone else did. And you didn’t. And for that, I thank you''  
Mulder gazed at her and thought he was going to faint at that very moment; There she was, staring into his eyes, that baby-blue color; and he thought it was like swimming in the sea. He felt hungry. Hungry for Scully, to kiss and savor all hers spot. And Scully looked at him the same, he knew. He had been with many women and none, never, had looked at him like her. Mulder thought he slept with her, one night in the Hospital, and he had never slept so well.

Scully blushed at how he looked at her: was it possible he felt like her? No, it was not. But what if he felt like her? It was not possible. But ... What if he felt like her? He was married! "Get out of here now, Dana," she thought and stood, looking at the floor:

"Now I have to go, Agent Mulder." And Mulder got up quickly and took her hand to stop her. He stood only inches from her and Scully was still staring at the floor.  
Mulder put his other hand on her chin for Scully to lift her head and she did, staring into his eyes. Mulder brought Scully's hand to his mouth and kissed his fingers, as he had done when they were being held in the Hoover, and Scully shook her head ‘No’, trying to stop him, as he parted his lips and sighed.  
Mulder said, "You're driving me crazy," in a whisper and he bent down to kiss her, rested his lips on hers and heard Scully's little moan slip away. Mulder tightened his legs, trying to hide his erection, but he was so close to her, letting their tongues play, that she had noticed what she did to him.

Scully lifted her lips a little from his and Mulder bit her lower lip and rested her forehead on hers, both breathing in agitatedly:

Scully threw her head back, stopped kissing him; And Mulder saw a deep sadness in her eyes. She said, almost voiceless:

"How's your marriage going, Agent Mulder?" ''.

Mulder frozen and Scully smoothed her hair and left the office like lightning, without saying goodbye.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

March 8.

"You're going to kill the test-subject if you keep giving it that much VIT34," Diana told her partner Rachel, behind the glass in which they watched as the subject reacted to Vaccine In Tests Number 34, VIT34.

\- '' This is your husband's daughter, it has a lot of stamina. '' Rachel said smiling.

In 1998, Mulder and Diana had gone to spend a week in a paradise beach in Mexico when they had a car accident that left Mulder in coma for a week. Or, at least, that's what Mulder believed. Because the truth is that Mulder had been subjected to tests: Diana wanted to be sure that Mulder would endure what was to come, an alien colonization, so they subjected him to all relevant evidence, such as injecting the black oil virus.

Since Mulder proved to have an unusual resistance to the tests, they decided to extract samples of their semen and fertilize frozen eggs from the only woman who had survived, for the time being, the removal of the implant in her nape and her subsequent cancer: agent Dana Katherine Scully. And it turned out that the fetuses coming from that union were more resistant than any other, to the delight of the scientists.  
It was something that made Diana feel jealous, since she hated that little woman who believed could save the world herself. But there it was, a clone of one of the fetuses, artificially matured to three years old, female sex and red curls framing big blue eyes, who the scientists called Carol, screamed in pain tied to a bed.

"Go up to 73%," Rachel said to a microphone in front of her, while Diana and she were pointing data in a notebook. Rachel continued talking to Diana: "You seem distracted, is everything okay?"

\- "I think my husband is getting tired of me, traveling so much and not getting a pregnancy afloat. He seems distracted all the time, as if he weren’t at home and ... he doesn’t feel like making love. "

Rachel said, "That's a bad sign, Diana, when a man doesn’t want to make love to his wife, he has another bitch."  
"'' You think? '' Diana asked worried.

"'You cannot blame him, he has endured too much. Mine left me after the first year together. It's hard to spend your life without your wife. I don’t understand how he holds you so far, honestly ... Go up to 78% ... and ... haven’t you thought about let your baby born? I mean, instead of aborting the babies, you could end the pregnancy and he can take care of the child, so he will be happy. After all, he's the one who wants to be a father ... up to 81% ... maybe that will ease him a little. ''  
The subject, the red-haired girl, started licking her mouth and Diana said, "Go up to 84%," and went on to say, "Do you really think he has another?"

\- '' I don’t know ... look, the foam from its mouth is a darker green than the last subjects ... I don’t know your husband, but it seems reasonable. Do you want my opinion? ''.

"'Sure, Rachel, that's why I'm asking you.' '  
"'Leave him. And when all this is over, find him if you still miss him. I'm sure you'll always have him there for you ... Go up to 87% ... It's always better to leave someone than he leave you, don’t you think? ''

Diana frowned: it was not her plan to leave her husband. She had feelings, didn’t she? Even if she killed children, even if she killed her husband's children or her own children, it was all for their own good.

The test subject, the red-haired girl, in the middle of a pain-induced stutter, looked at the tray of medical material in front of her. She looked for help with her gaze and left it fixed on one of the instruments, which began to rise upwards in front the stupor of Diana and Rachel:  
"This can’t be happening!" Rachel said excitedly.

"Go up to 90%," said Diana in ecstasy. The subject, the test girl, could move objects with its mind if it was given enough VEP34. Rachel looked at Diana with a smile and said,

\- '' Do we try 100%? ''.

"We're going to kill it Rachel," said a smiling Diana. It was the first time that that had happened.

"We've got more," Rachel replied.

"Go up to 100%," Diana ordered.  
The test subject, the red-haired girl, managed to lift the tray with all the utensils contained in it and twisted from the pain until the ligatures that tied her to the bed caused her wrists and ankles to bleed. And she died.

"Wow!" Diana said enthusiastically. "I never thought we would see these results!"

\- '' We have to try the VIT34 with all kinds on subjects! An excited Rachel said ''This wonderful result was unpredictable! ''.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

On 15th March, Diana came back and told Mulder that during her five-day stay in Oklahoma, she had lost the baby. Mulder sat on the couch and stared at the TV off as she explained that it would be better to wait a few months, that her work was very stressful and that perhaps it would be best if she asked for a discharge. Maybe next year was a good time; After all, she was only 37 years old and he 39, so nothing was happening if they waited a little bit for her to have everything well tied in her work and start taking it easy.

Mulder listened to her and thought it was hard for her too, wasn’t it? Losing baby after baby. But she did nothing to change that situation and now she wanted to wait another year.

One more year.

And he thought he should be comforting her and telling her how much he loved her and not worry, that everything would turn out well. But ... did she want a baby just as he wanted it? And, most important, what looked to Mulder as a revelation in his mind, the question that had never been asked up to that precise moment:

Did he want Diana to be the mother of his children?  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In 19th March, Mulder received a call in which the secretary of the D.A. Skinner begged him to go to his office as soon as possible. Mulder went there wondering what the man would want, since the A.D. always contacted the senior agent or who had served the FBI the longest, which meant he should have contacted Patterson, not him .

Agent Skinner looked rather uneasy when Mulder came in and asked him to take a seat.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Mulder asked.

"I'd like to ask you a personal favor, agent Mulder. I know that you are an honest man and involved in their cases. I saw it that day that you walked in to the Hoover with Agent Scully. Therefore, I would like to ask you to review a case. "  
Mulder looked at him in astonishment. "What is it, sir?"

\- '' An inmate has escaped from a maximum security prison and killed a young woman''

"Is there an arrest warrant?" Mulder asked, and then remembered that the news had said something about that morning, but he did not pay much attention because he was late for a meeting with Patterson and Lamana.  
"You mean the prisoner who escaped two days ago, sir?"

"Yes, the same," said Skinner, "He was caught and placed in police custody a few years ago by agents Pendrell and Scully, after he killed five women. His name is Donald Pfaster. "

Mulder frowned, remembering:

\- '' You mean the "Minneapolis Necrophagous"? My colleagues said he liked to eat the fingers of the women he had murdered with peas.'' Skinner nodded and Mulder continued.  
"I didn’t know that Agents Pendrell and Scully who had arrested him. It was a great job, “Mulder said amused..

"The case, Agent Mulder, is that Pendrell and Scully are two of my best agents, despite what I can hear through the corridors ... those stupid that think that they’re only two crazy scientists. They are competent, they are very involved in their work; and ... they are good people. ''

Mulder nodded, understanding that Skinner considered them his friends.

"So I'd like you to take a look at the file, now that Pfaster is gone and my agents are after him. I know they can do it on their own, but ... I think a little help from a more objective point of view could come at a good time by now. ''

Mulder looked at him blankly and asked what he meant.

"Agent Mulder, Donnie Pfaster was arrested at his mother's house when he was there because he had kidnapped Agent Scully to murder her as he did with the others."

Mulder, suddenly, felt a lump in his throat the size of a baseball ball.

"She would have been victim number six," he said almost without a voice. Then, activated as by a spring, he got up and picked up Pfaster’s file. "Sir, where are agents Pendrell and Scully now?"  
Skinner looked at him intrigued. "Illinois," he replied.

Mulder began to speak very quickly and nervously:

"Sir, give me the phone numbers of both of them and be sure to tell them Agent Scully cannot spend a single second alone, not even to go to the toilet. I'm going to call them on the way to the airport to let them know. ''

"What about, Agent Mulder?" Skinner asked in terror.

"Listen to me, Sir. If I have learned anything in the years that I have been doing profiles of serial killers, it is that they, regardless of the years that pass, never, never leave unfinished what they believe is an art work. '' Skinner froze. "He's going to finish what he started with Agent Scully."

Skinner gave him a card with Pendrell and Scully's mobile phone numbers, and Mulder ran from the office.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Agent Scully, this is Mulder, call me on this number as soon as you hear this message, it's extremely important." Mulder screamed to his mobile phone as he ran down the FBI corridors to the exit with his coat and briefcase in his free hand. Agent Scully did not pick up her phone and that could mean nothing or mean too much. Mulder jumped into the first taxi he found and called Pendrell as he told the taxi driver go to the airport.

"Pendrell," he heard.

"Agent Pendrell, where's Agent Scully?" Mulder said.

"Who are you?" Pendrell asked, intrigued.

"I'm Agent Fox Mulder. Where are you now? ''

"We're in Washington, we just came back from a case."

"Did you caught Pfaster?" Mulder asked hopefully.

-''How do you know...? No, we didn’t. I left the case for the locals as there is an arrest warrant…  
"Where's Agent Scully?" Mulder shouted.

"I suppose at home." "What is it, Agent Mulder?" Pendrell said in a frightened voice.

"Pendrell, I think he's going to get her. I'm sure of it. Tell me where she live and send the locals right now!. '' Mulder shouted to the taxi driver Scully's address Pendrell told him and Pendrell hung up.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder kicked the door to face Donnie Pfaster in the middle of Scully's living room. Donnie Pfaster, who had taken Scully's gun after their fight, pointing at Mulder.

\- ''If you have done something stupid, I swear I will kill you. '' Mulder said pointing at Pfaster. Pfaster smiled and pulled the trigger and Mulder shot, too, sure of his aim. The Pfaster bullet grazed Mulder's right side and he felt a slight burn there. Mulder's bullet pierced Donnie Pfaster’s head and Mulder stared at his lifeless body for a few seconds, watching the red blood create a puddle on the rug.

"Agent Scully!" He shouted through the house. He entered the bathroom and looked around, filled with candles like a little shrine of some primitive temple, ready for the human sacrifice. He stepped into Scully's room, the mirror broken in a thousand pieces, the shelf on the floor and the bed locking the door to a built-in cupboard on the left.

Mulder moved the bed, unlocking the door as he heard agents entering Scully's house. He began to shout:

"I'm an FBI agent! Agent Scully! Agent Scully! “Finally, he managed to open the door and found Scully on her knees, bound and bleeding from her cheek and nose. He bent down with her and removed the gag from her mouth and the bonds of her wrists.  
-''Where is he?''. Scully asked nervously.

"He's dead," said Mulder, almost voiceless. Someone came in and said the ambulance was on the way and had Mulder identify. He showed her ID while his other hand helped Scully to stand up. She looked at Mulder.

"Did you kill him?" She asked, terrified.

"Yes, he will never bother you again." Scully sighed and hugged him and when Mulder slipped his arms around her back, he noticed that she was wet with blood. Scully looked into his eyes as his eyes filled with tears and kissed Mulder on the chin; And Mulder started kissing her on the forehead, one, two, three times ... a thousand if he had to do it to comforting her.

"Dana!" Agent Pendrell walked in, almost screaming. Scully let go of Mulder carefully, slowly, and Agent Pendrell took her hands. They both smiled, happy to see each other, and Mulder could not help himself feeling a pang of jealousy.

"'He's dead, Dana.'

\- '' I know, Agent Mulder did ... '' but she did not get the words out.

"How do you feel?" Pendrell asked in despair.

And at that moment, Mulder saw the strangest thing in the world: a few seconds ago, Agent Scully had shown him her fear and fragility. She had felt safe and did not hesitate to hug him while she kissed him on the chin. She had behaved like a woman behaves with ... her man? However, when Pendrell appeared, she became the strong woman she was always. FBI Agent Scully: Scully wanted to protect Pendrell, thinking that he would not notice if she was not well or strong enough to do anything.  
"I'm fine," Scully said and Mulder sighed, because he knew it was a lie, but Pendrell looked at her the same way, also knowing she was not.

\- '' Paramedics are going to come in to see you and then you can pick up your things. We'll leave here'' Pendrell said ‘’I’ll buy a hot coffee for you’. Mulder’s eyes filled with tears: he had never seen such a relationship. It reminded him of his relationship with Samantha.

Agent Scully turned to Mulder, and he saw Pendrell's eyes growing infinitely sad: Pendrell loved her. And Mulder felt that he had to show somehow to that man that Scully was only his. But that was not what a married man thinks, right? No, it is not. And less when there is an agent who may need medical attention.

Mulder sighed and put his hand on the back of Agent Scully's back carefully and she gave him a half smile that he thought was water in a desert.

Pendrell went out to take charge of the cops who swarmed about, from the press that warned of a gunfight in Georgetown but knew no more details, he called Scully's mother to tell her everything was fine...

And Mulder stayed with Scully. He helped her remove her shirt from her pajamas. He unzipped her shirt buttons as she kept staring into his eyes and Mulder felt Scully tremble and his own hands could not seem to unbuckle. When it was completely open and Mulder fought against himself for not kissing her there, in front of the nurse, Scully turned her back on him, taking off her shirt and holding it against her breasts. Mulder saw a piece of a tattoo, it looked like a snake, but he could not see much more.  
And she sat on the bed for a paramedic to heal her wounds. Mulder saw her there, sitting on the bed with her white back bent a little, holding the top of her pajamas against her chest so she would not show her breasts to anybody; and her hair falling on both sides of her face. He thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Mulder was called shortly after, he had to explain that it had happened. He took Scully's hand before he left:

-'’Will you be fine?''. He said, crouching next to her. She nodded slowly and gave him a half smile that made her look like a little girl and made him smile.

After that, Mulder just saw Scully with people around until everything was done and the three of them went in Pendrell's car to Scully's mother's house in silence. Mrs. Scully opened the door and ran to Pendrell's carriage as she arrived, hugging her daughter, who did not complain of the pain her mother had caused her running her arms down her back. The four of them went inside and Scully went upstairs to shower and change.  
Margaret Scully introduced Mulder and he saw that she seemed to have a great trust in Agent Pendrell. Pendrell told everything that had happened to Mrs. Scully and she could not be more grateful to Mulder. When Scully returned, the three of them were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and Scully sat next to her mother, her hair wet and a navy blue shirt big like a dress on her.

They did not know what to say, it seemed like anything they could say would be silly given what Scully had just been through. She started: 

\- ''The truth is that I was scared ... Very. But now I can say that I feel almost like a new woman, since one of the ... More terrible monsters that this world has known, is... Burning in Hell, "she said uncertainly. Pendrell took his hand over the table and squeezed it, smiling.  
"We should go, Agent Mulder," Pendrell began. "I think it's better if Dana rests a little." And he looked at her, "because tomorrow, Dana, you're not going to work." Scully nodded slowly and the two Scully went out to the door to say goodbye to the agents. Once there, Mulder and Pendrell started walking toward the car, when Scully called Mulder and approached him:  
"It’s going to be true that the Mulders save one woman a week," she said without a smile.

"I told you, Agent Scully. If you need me to save you next week again, do not hesitate to call me. '' Mulder said, more for made her smile than him feel like joking. He looked at his shoes, not quite knowing what to say, aware that they were not alone, but even if they were, what could he do?

"Thank you, really, Agent Mulder," and Scully blushed thinking about the last time they had met, when she went to see Agent Mulder in their office and they had kissed again. "At least now, Sean and my mother are here and nothing can happen," thought Scully relieved. Scully held out her hand to say goodbye and Mulder kissed his own fingers and put them on Scully's lips for a second and then shook hands and walked to Pendrell's car, who was waiting inside him, serious and pale.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Mulder got home, he heard his messages on the answering machine while he was preparing a chicken, bacon, and mayonnaise sandwich:

"Little brother, you do not know what? Some of my kids have asked to get them your picture in the newspapers, taking the red-haired woman out of the Hoover, signed by you! You have a small fan club! I love you!’’  
"Fox, I'm done sooner than planned and I'll be home tomorrow." Diana said in a happy voice '' My plane will arrive at about 7, Will you be done at work at 5 tomorrow? ... I miss you. ''

He sat down on the sofa to eat and was soon asleep.

She dreamed that he was in a hospital bed and that Agent Scully was saying, with a soft voice, something like:

\- '' I want you to close your eyes and tell yourself that there is nothing better than being at home. ''  
He dreamed that he had been an idiot and called her, and when she approached him and asked him, "‘yes?'" He said  
"I love you," but she would leave in anger, without believing him, 'Oh, bro''.  
It did not matter to him: he knew that she loved him and that it was true that, at last, he had kissed her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Mulder was working in his office when he received two visits that he had never imagined. The first about 10 o'clock in the morning. Agent Pendrell knocked and entered as if he were scared. Mulder still considered him a shy man and thanked him for that.  
"How can I help you, Agent Pendrell?" Pendrell looked around and said,

"I hate getting out of my office and having to see all those cocky agents," Pendrell said, to Mulder's stunned stare.

'' Always whispering like bored old women. I've heard one saying Agent Scully and I were trying to find work in this Unit to start being someone important '' Pendrell said, anger red. Mulder's eyes widened in astonishment.

They had seen Scully come to talk to him to his office for a few days and they had already started to talk nonsense, although he had not heard anything, it was obvious what they were talking about listening what Agent Pendrell had said. Mulder was filled with anger: he understood now what Scully meant when she told him the first night he met her that they did not frequent the other agents or had a lot of relationship with them since Pendrell had hit one that had been laughed of Scully.

Mulder thought that if he heard a single comment about her, he would give the biggest beating in his life to the one who did it.  
Anyway, Agent Mulder, I did not come here to talk about the other agents," Pendrell continued, "I came to thank you for what you did last night. Dana has been having nightmares in which Pfaster appeared and ... When we went to Minneapolis, I just thought best to leave the case to the locals and go back to Washington to keep her protected, but ... '' His voice failed for a moment '' but it turned out that I gave that bastard exactly what he wanted ''

Mulder remembered what he had told to Skinner "a serial killer, no matter how many years he spent, he always tries to finish what he considers an art work ": Pendrell was not a psychologist, he did not have to know that.

"You just tried to protect her." Mulder replied.

Pendrell nodded and continued,

"I also wanted, well, I wanted to ..." he began, smiling. "I have three friends calling themselves the Lone Gunmen."

\- '' Because of JFK? '' Mulder asked, remembering that his first word had been that, JFK.

\- '' Yes, they are quite paranoid but good people. The fact is that we meet every Friday if I’m not out working and, you know? We have some beers, we talk about government conspiracies and we see some science fiction movie. I wanted to invite you to come with us next Friday. I know you’re a married man, '' he said seriously '' but I hope you can join us someday. '' Mulder looked at him.

"I know he's a married man." Had Agent Scully told Pendrell anything about what had happened between them? And if she had, why did he want to invite him with his friends? Mulder nodded, thinking it was a good idea to meet Pendrell a little more, for as much as it made him feel jealous when he saw him around Scully, he seemed like a good man, trustworthy.

\- '' I’d really like to have a few beers with you '' he said. Pendrell told him to call him to tell him when and he left. Mulder smiled when he was alone.  
He had not gone out for a long time with friends to have a few beers, between his stressful work and his marriage, he had gradually given up his friends and now shared most of his free time with Diana, when she wasn’t working; or with Samantha. He wondered if he would know how to behave again between men. And that invitation pleased him, since these three friends of Pendrell must have been those three men Diana had mentioned when they went to the conference in New York who were also friends of Scully. It seemed wonderful to enter, even one night, into Scully's circle of friends.

The second visit of the day was about 11 in the morning. Karl, the boy from the internal Mail Room, knocked on his door and poked his head in,

"Agent Fox Mulder?"

"Yes, it's me," Mulder replied, looking at him behind his glasses. Karl came into his office with a huge bunch of pink roses and Mulder could not open his eyes more, stunned.

\- '' This has arrived for you half an hour ago. '' Karl smiled '' they smell great. '' And he gave them with admiration "It's a nice gift, you're a lucky man." And he left the office to continue his distribution.

Mulder looked at the pink roses and could not believe it, nobody had never given him flowers in his life and he considered it a gift for girls, and now that he had a bouquet in his hands, he could not feel happier! He looked for the card and read:

'' Agent Mulder, I wanted to thank you for saving me last night, but given the events recently when I went up to your office, I thought it would be best not to do it again. And I could not find the latest edition of Triple-X. Thank you. Agent Scully ''.

Mulder sank into his chair and looked at the flowers excitedly. He will have to ask Samantha what meaning pink roses had.

And he looked at the flowers, and thought in that small but brave red-haired agent that had send him pink roses. Roses! No more and no less! He thought about all the times he had sent flowers to Diana and how, little by little, his marriage had become a '' share a house '' in which one of the two never was, usually her. He thought about how excited he was when he had married, and how he had gradually lost all hope until he had just lost his fifth "fetus" as Diana had called them.  
And he thought, and thought, and thought.

And in the end, he decided that it was time to separate from Diana.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To be continued in Chapter 6…


End file.
